1 Dead, Dozens Rushed To Area Hospitals After Carbon Monoxide Leak At Long Island Mall

Authorities outside the Legal Sea Foods at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station where a man died and dozens more were sickened by a carbon monoxide leak, Feb. 22, 2014 (credit: Jim Powers/1010 WINS)

Authorities outside the Legal Sea Foods at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station where a man died and dozens more were sickened by a carbon monoxide leak, Feb. 22, 2014 (credit: Jim Powers/1010 WINS)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — One person is dead and at least two dozen others were rushed to area hospitals for apparent carbon monoxide poisoning at a mall on Long Island Saturday evening.

As CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez reported, police said 55-year-old Steven Nelson, the manager of the Legal Sea Foods restaurant located at the Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station, was killed by the odorless gas.

1 Dead, Dozens Rushed To Area Hospitals After Carbon Monoxide Leak At Long Island Mall

A total of 28 people were also rushed to area hospitals and treated for elevated levels of carbon monoxide, 1010 WINS reported.

“The original call was that a woman had fallen and had a head injury. That’s possibly as a result of the carbon monoxide. That ultimately was not the person who died. That was someone else. But that’s what started the response of the emergency personel,” Suffolk County Police Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick told Sanchez.

A spokesperson for Huntington Hospital said 10 of those sickened were rushed there and that others were triaged at the scene, 1010 WINS reported.

Fitzpatrick said four of those affected were ambulatory workers and three were police officers who responded to the scene, WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported.

Police said the leak originated in the basement of Panera Bread, possibly due to a faulty heating system, Sanchez reported.

The Panera Bread as well as the neighboring Cheesecake Factory were evacuated as a precaution.

Kathy Sella and Ashley Harper were at the Cheesecake Factory when the wait staff told the entire restaurant to get out, Sanchez reported.

“We were sitting at the bar, we are having a glass of wine. And then somebody came up to us – I think it was one of the waitresses – and she said that ‘you had to leave,'” Sella said.

“She’s like everyone has to evacuate the building and we’re like what’s the matter and she says there’s a gas leak,” Harper added.

Most of those sickened have since been treated and released. Those who remain hospitalized are expect to make a full recovery.